Forever righteous, even when we stumble. Christ upholds us with His righteous Right Hand.

Believers, see the Father’s love for us! In Genesis 15:4, when Abram thought that the heir of his house would be Eliezer of Damascus because he was childless, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Verse 6 tells us of Abram “And he believed in the LORD, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

The Lord declared Abraham righteous in chapter 15, long before he was going to sacrifice Isaac. 

In the very next chapter (16), Sarai and Abram decided to "speed up the process” by getting a child through Sarai’s maid Hagar (Sarai gave her maid, Hagar, to her husband to be his wife), this against the backdrop of God’s promise!

In Genesis 17, when God told Abraham that Sarah would bear him a son, Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart “Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” –verse 17.

In Genesis 18, Sarah too laughed within herself when she heard the Lord tell Abraham that she would have a son. She even denied that she laughed afterwards because she was afraid.

In Genesis 20, Abraham hid the fact that Sarah was his wife in a place called Gerar. Abimelech, the king, sent and took Sarah for himself. The grace of God towards Abraham and His terror to all who made him uncomfortable is recorded in Genesis 20:3 – 7. Please read this account. It’s fantastic! When Abimelech asked Abraham why he said Sarah was his sister and not his wife, Abraham said “Because I thought, surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will kill me on account of my wife.”

Digressing a little, something that would seem strange to many happened in this chapter too. See verse 17: 

"Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants, so they could have children. 18 For the Lord had caused all the women to be infertile because of what happened with Abraham’s wife, Sarah."

Abraham's wife was barren but he prayed to God for Abimelech's folks and He healed them. Believers, we are blessed with believing Abraham. Galatians 3:9 says: "So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith." Our qualification for praying to God for the sick and receiving answers has got nothing to do with our status or how well we've fasted or paid our dues. It's got all to do with the gift of righteousness that we have in Christ! Even when we are waiting for the manifestation of our answered prayers, He works in us, and what a blessing Isaac was for Abraham and Sarah.

Back to Abraham, in Genesis 21, the Lord did as He had spoken and Sarah bore a son for Abraham at the exact time that God said she would, notwithstanding the incident with Hagar and their laughter/unbelief and Abraham hiding the fact that Sarah was His wife to keep himself alive.

Believers, we see the same Abraham described by Paul as righteous through and through in Romans 4:18-22 –

"who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

Yes, the same Abraham that went in to Hagar to get a child despite God’s promise concerning Isaac, the same Abraham that laughed in unbelief when the Lord told him that a son would be born to Sarah; the same Abraham that allowed his wife to be added to king Abimelech’s harem in order to stay alive, the same Abraham is described in the paragraph above as righteous!!! No record of his mistakes AT ALL in the gospel of Grace! According to Paul, he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, he did not consider the deadness of his body and the deadness of Sarah’s womb! Sounds like two different people! But it's the same person.

Believers in Christ, this is the reality of God’s promise to us under the new covenant of Grace and Truth through our Lord Jesus Christ as outlined in Hebrews 8:12 

“ For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 

As with Abraham, our Lord God does not remember our sins anymore! He remembers each time we believe His promises in Christ! And as we continue our walk with our Lord Jesus Christ leading us on the path of righteousness, He takes us to the place where we do things like having great faith as to trust in Him like Abraham did with Isaac at Mt. Moriah! Recall that the Lord declared Abraham righteous long before Isaac was born.

Believers in Christ, do you believe that you have no righteousness of your own “As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one;’? Romans 3:10

Do you believe that your righteousness or being right with God has nothing to do with what you do or don’t do but you are righteous because Jesus took your place - 2 Corinthians 5:21 - ”For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”? - our Lord God is a just God and will never punish you for the same sins that have already been punished in the body of our Lord Jesus!

Do you believe that our Lord God justifies the ungodly; not those who think they can be “holy” and do right by themselves but like Abraham, those who believe, as it is written in Romans 4:5 - 

"But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,"

Do you believe that Jesus was punished for all of your sins – past, present and future - and that in Him, you are righteous, no matter what you do or don’t do? Then you are already made perfect in Christ. You might not see the full effect of it in your life yet - when God put His grace on Abram/Sarai and named them Abraham/Sarah, they eventually bore fruit - Isaac -after their names changed. See yourself as God sees you in Christ -RIGHTEOUS - and you will live right.

Like Abraham, you might still sin and make mistakes. Even the holiest of the holy pastors still sin! But His grace will make you bear fruit to righteousness! In God’s eyes, you are righteous, because your righteousness is not your own but His through Christ!

But God’s grace is not a license for us to continue in sin. It is our ticket to overcoming sin! According to 2 Corinthians 5:18, we are transformed to the image of the glory of the Lord by the Holy Spirit, not by our efforts or law-keeping –

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

Think of yourself as a glass cup with dirt (sins and addictions) in it placed by the Lord under a gushing tap (supply of the Holy Spirit through the hearing of faith) – Galatians 3:5. The dirt has no choice but to be eliminated! Our Lord Himself takes away the desire to sin without our knowing it! Remember, the hearing of faith, not the Law/Ten Commandments. The Law is not of faith and without faith, it is impossible to please God.

The more we see how much God loves us in His word; the more we see how, with Christ, He gives us all things freely; the more we see in ourselves His righteousness; the more we see Him as our DADDY,our ABBA FATHER, the more we are transformed to the image of His glory, from glory to glory. Nothing to do with us, all to do with our Lord Jesus Christ, even down to being called to being a part of the body of Christ!

Believers, we are no longer under Law but under Grace where we find ourselves doing the will of our Lord God not by our efforts but because according to Philippians 2:13 ”for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”

In Christ, God only remembers and records the times we believe Him. He doesn't remember our sins. He said so Himself. The point of the things we are saying is in Hebrews 8, Romans 5 and Galatians 3

Believe Right and you will Live Right.